A post circulated on social media containing personal information, including a Social Security number of a north Idaho mom, along with 30-year-old court records from when she was a teenager. The post was intended to publicly shame and doxx her as punishment for speaking up. Some random Facebook user did not do this; it was published on the official social media accounts of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.
The goal wasn’t to inform voters; it was designed to intimidate someone who dared to question the political order built around the Idaho Freedom Foundation and KCRCC chairman Brent Regan.
Only after they realized they could be liable for damages stemming from identity theft did they repost with the SSN redacted.
Hazel helps lead the North Idaho Republicans (NIR), a group of Republicans who grew tired of Regan’s ties to Groypers and abusive tactics. NIR circulated a factual breakdown of the KCRCC’s “rating and vetting” system—exposing how Regan’s committee rewards candidates with criminal records or extremist views while excluding qualified candidates who refuse to bend the knee to KCRCC’s “Dear Leader.” Shortly after that information spread, the KCRCC account posted Hazel’s personal data, along with an ancient court file that had no connection to her public work. It looked like retaliation and intimidation.
Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon could have condemned the doxxing and called for it to stop immediately. Instead, she issued a statement defending the KCRCC and attacking NIR for daring to tell the truth. She never mentioned that posting a citizen’s Social Security number is a security risk. She never addressed how using private data as a political weapon crosses a moral line. Her refusal to act makes sense when you learn that Moon owes her position in part to Regan, who helped engineer her rise to chairwoman.
The morality of doxxing is not open for debate. It is a form of political violence that exposes people to real danger. Publishing private information invites stalking, identity theft, and intimidation. It is a weapon of evil used to silence truth tellers into submission.
This isn’t new. Extremist operatives around the Idaho Freedom Foundation have targeted Hazel for years, recycling the same personal records to shame her publicly. The difference now is that an official county Republican organization joined them. When the institution adopts the tactics of its fringe, the fringe becomes the institution.
Nobody should have to fear political violence for exercising their Constitutionally protected right of free speech.
I know how this feels. After Greg Pruett—another operative of the Idaho Freedom Foundation whose now-defunct Idaho Dispatch served as one of its attack outlets—published a false claim accusing me of campaign-finance violations, one of his readers commented that I should be “hung.” The threat was explicit: a suggestion that I should be murdered because of Pruett’s lie. The campaign finance accusation was proven false, and the Secretary of State’s office cleared me; however, the damage was already done. Pruett refuses to remove the threat to my life on his website. When operatives like him feed their audience lies, it signals permission to unhinged followers that its ok to engage in violence towards their perceived enemies. That’s the real danger here.
That same willingness to excuse extremism defines the so-called Idaho “conservative” movement. When the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee invited Trump-nominated Ninth Circuit Judge Ryan Nelson to speak about religious freedom and civility, Idaho Freedom Caucus agitator Lauren Walker responded by demanding the names and addresses of everyone in attendance and posting an image of someone bashing another person’s head with a rock. She publicly threatened political violence and rage towards the judge, Rep. Mickelsen, and Bonneville republicans for not adhering to her fringe ideology. Moon said absolutely nothing about threats to members of a county central committee.
Then, national committeeman and IFF board member Bryan Smith attacked the Idaho Majority Club (IMC) for hosting an event featuring Speaker Mike Moyle and Senate leader Kelly Anthon. Smith publicly questioned why the club was selling tables—something he and his allies did routinely when they controlled the Bonneville County Republican Central Committee.
Under Smith’s public Facebook post about the IMC event, one of his followers commented that “they should all be shot.” Smith said nothing and left the comment up on his page. It appears he has no problem with the idea of someone threatening to use a firearm against elected officials he disagrees with.
Meanwhile, the Idaho Press stays silent as continued threats toward Republicans from “conservatives” persist.
The moral vacuum extends beyond one Idaho county. Heather Lauer, a founder of the IFF and a current board member, now runs People United for Privacy. The group’s website declares, “People United for Privacy defends the right of every American—donors, members, volunteers, and supporters alike—to stand with the causes they believe in without fear. In a time of rising political violence and intimidation, protecting citizen privacy is essential to protecting civil society.” It sounds noble until you look closer. Lauer also chairs the Blaine County Republicans and worked with insiders like Ryan Spoon and Freedom PAC operative Dustin Hurst to help a Democrat defeat a Republican there. Hurst works for her at People United for Privacy, yet an active stalking order exists against him for posting my home address and publicly threatening to show up at my house. The organization supposedly devoted to protecting privacy employs a man who violates its own mission statement. Lauer, along with Smith and Regan, seems all too happy to allow these threats against republicans to fester.
Moon’s faction cemented power through low-turnout precinct races that few voters notice. They filled those seats with loyalists, captured delegate votes, and used that structure to secure her chairmanship. It worked because ordinary Republicans were busy living their lives while a small clique quietly took control. The result is a party apparatus that rewards obedience to its party bosses over integrity.
There is an incentive for bad actors to creep their way into the leadership of a group and say, “See, I’m doing this in defense of you!” They use it to justify their abusive behavior and will exploit the ideals of the group as part of their manipulative tactics. And that is why we must maintain these clear moral lines, and when one is crossed, we swiftly recognize that the behavior has gone too far and that they have violated the group’s principles. There must be a requirement of atonement or removal of those who violated this trust.
The cost is visible in the daily fear among ordinary people who want to participate in public policy and political discussions. Christa Hazel’s privacy is gone. Families worry that their children’s names or photos will appear online next. Judges who talk about civility face threats. Elected officials endure violent comments under public posts while leadership looks away. Each time the party refuses to act, the behavior worsens.
Doxxing becomes stalking. Stalking becomes a threat. Threats become normalized. It doesn’t stop until someone like me or Hazel is hurt, and even then, they would likely celebrate the violence.
For years, these party bosses claimed to be the face of conservatism in Idaho. Those words mean nothing now. The same party that once demanded moral discipline now celebrates humiliation as proof of loyalty.
This cannot be solved by waiting for things to calm down. Silence keeps the machine alive. Every Republican who looks away while their party aggressively attacks republican voters who dare speak up becomes part of the system that will eventually target them, too.
I have been a Republican my entire life. I believe in personal responsibility, limited government, and the dignity of every person. None of that aligns with this new conservative movement that tolerates death threats or excuses racism and antisemitism. Dorothy Moon has chosen power over principle. Bryan Smith has chosen hypocrisy over honesty. Heather Lauer has chosen self-interest over integrity. And Brent Regan, who built the structure that sustains them, helps keep the machine running.
These same people who demand to be called “conservatives” appear perfectly comfortable watching Republicans like me—and others who dare to tell the truth about them—become targets of violent rhetoric. They allow their followers to be fed lies that dehumanize us, to believe we somehow deserve harm. When death threats appear under their posts, they ignore them. When followers talk about hanging or shooting fellow Republicans, they seem to give their quiet nod of approval.
This is the same pattern of escalation we saw on the left before the assassination of Charlie Kirk—the drumbeat of dehumanizing rhetoric from the left led to violence and tragedy. The people now shouting for “retribution” and “payback” watched that happen and chose to imitate it. They have become what they claim to hate.
How dare Smith, Moon, Lauer, Regan, and their allies claim the moral high ground while excusing the same behavior they condemn in others? They are not preserving conservatism; they are repackaging dehumanization and hatred of the left without solutions and gaslighting Republicans with a demand that we unite with them.
If that is what passes for leadership in the Idaho GOP, then real Republicans must draw a line. Because the difference between moral conviction and mob rule isn’t a slogan; it’s what we choose to tolerate in our own ranks.
I refuse to unite with evil. I refuse to unite with those who actively encourage dehumanization and the elimination of our God-given right to exist. This is not conservatism, nor is it the Republican ideals that President Ronald Reagan stood for. I will not apologize for calling out bad actors within my party.
It is time for Republicans of conscience to reclaim their name, protect their neighbors, and prove that decency is still a conservative value worth defending. Join me in calling for Dorothy Moon and her party boss friends to cease and retract their embrace of political violence immediately.
Let’s vote them out and show them that Idaho Republicans will no longer tolerate this disturbing behavior.
About the Author
Gregory Graf is the creator of Political Potatoes and a lifelong conservative Republican who lives in Star, Idaho.
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Disclaimer
The following is intended to convey an opinion on newsworthy events of public concern regarding public figures and/or public officials in exercising their official duties. No implications or inferences—beyond those explicitly stated in the preceding— are intended to be conveyed or endorsed by the Author. Wherever available, hyperlinks have been provided to allow readers to directly access any underlying assertions of fact upon which this opinion is based.
Great job. Nailed it!
Damn! Spot on Greg and I’m glad someone has the ‘bully pulpit’ to expose this. Keep up the good work and Karma is on your side.